Africa-Press – Cape verde. A study released by “The Royal Society Open Science Journal” reveals that, in addition to being targets of poaching, pollution or loss of habitat, sea turtles are also harmed by climate change that hinders their reproduction.
The study warns that rising ocean temperatures are putting the survival of sea turtle populations at risk, as it ends up heating nesting sites spread across beaches around the world.
Six of the seven sea turtle species are already on the red list
According to the same study, of the seven species of sea turtle, six are already on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, two of which – the hawksbill and -kemp – critically endangered.
Turtles face a greater threat because, unlike other species such as birds and butterflies, they have a longer reproductive cycle and take longer to adapt to changes.
Thus, the beaches where they spawn, which according to an immutable cycle are the same ones where they were born, are increasingly degraded by rising sea levels or erosion, and also by climate change that heats up the sand.
Possibility of local extinctions
According to the study’s lead author, Jacques-Olivier Laloe, the findings reveal the “really worrying” possibility that local extinctions could occur, especially for sea turtles that live around the equator.
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